Zion Guild Cook Book 1951

Zion Ladies Guild 1951 First Edition Cook Book came off of the shelf in our home recently. I was looking for the phone number of the Riverside Grocery.

It is almost sacred to flip through the pages and see old names like Mrs. Gust Haugen who was president of the guild at the time and Mrs. Palmer Lorenson who had a daughter, Sandy, who was my age.


What I was expecting to find was simplicity. What I found was broken recipes:

THIN BREAD
2 cup thick sour cream
½ teaspoon salt
Pinch of soda
Whole wheat flour
Mix and roll out thin. Cut and bake in hot oven. How hot, on what, how much does it make. Am I supposed to know that?

OR

ICING
2 egg whites
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Directions: Use method for 7 minute icing. No 7 minute icing listed in the book. All I remember about this frosting was it was fluffy and hard. The only way I can tell you what it seemed like to me was snow that was hard on the top and soft underneath.


OR

EGG MILK SHAKE
Break whole egg in shaker or glass jar. Add 1 to 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup, add one cup chilled milk, a few grains of salt and ¼ teaspoon of vanilla. Shake vigorously until frothy.


Moving right along to Hot dishes


STUDENT RAGOUT

Spread a layer of sliced bacon in a dutch over, then a slice of round steak, seasoned, then as many whole peeled potatoes and who carrots as desired. Cover tightly and cook over medium low heat for an hour.


OR


SHIPWRECK
In a well greased roaster place:
1 layer of sliced onions and one thick layer of potatoes
Salt and pepper as you fill the roaster. Parboil 1 cup of rice. Cool Mix this with 2 pounds of hamburger and ¼ pound of sausage. Pat this mixture on top of the potatoes. On the top of this add a bunch of celery, cut and parboiled. Add a number 2 can of beans. Then, a can of tomato soup, a can of white sauce, and a can of water. Cover and bake about 2 ½ hours in a moderate over. Uncover the last 15 minutes and brown. Add water if it seems dry.

Now you can have oatmeal rocks, rocks, or excellent rocks. Rocks are cookies. Why are they called rocks, does anyone know?

And the more I read, the more I realized that there were very few off beat ingredients.


Old Trunks was suddenly VERY hungry for the simple oatmeal refrigerator cookies my aunt, Lillian made. I hadn’t looked at the recipe for years. While at the market I winged it. After all it took a simple list of products that everyone always had on hand. Are you with me?


Obviously I needed to buy oatmeal and brown sugar. We had eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, granulated sugar and LOTS of baking soda because I buy it in 10# lots to clean the blinds, (along with vinegar). It certainly seemed like everything I needed was there until I got all the ingredients out and noticed it called for shortening.

The last can of shortening I REMEMBER opening was to smear on to get a sun tan start on Rachel. The can I had in the house expired in 2002 and I tossed in when I cleaned out the cabinets and replaced the flour and the baking powder. Today, I went to the market to get Crisco.


The recipe says it takes 10 minutes. Considering I have been to two markets in two days, I am thinking my dear aunt had a little problem with timing.


The next step is to make the cookie dough, then shape it into three rolls, roll it in waxed paper and put it in the fridge to chill. OH NO! I don’t have waxed paper. It’s okay, I will use parchment.


This tells me that methods used by these fine ladies in 1951 are NOT the methods we use today. How many of you actually have brown sugar in your house? If you do, is it a rock? Some folks in that era kept a piece of apple in the bag. YUCK.


If you wish to make Lillian’s cookies, and have hard brown sugar...to soften hard brown sugar, place an open bag of sugar in the microwave with a cup of water next to it. Microwave on high (100%) for 2-3 minutes. If your microwave doesn't have a carousel, turn the bag after each minute. NOTE: This worked great, but isn't a permanent fix. Any unused sugar will dry up again. However, the process can be repeated each time you need sugar.


Here is her recipe:
Baking time per batch, 10 minutes
Temperature 350
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick oatmeal

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat. Sift together flour, salt, and soda and add to first mixture. Add the oatmeal. Shape into three rolls and chill in the refrigerator until firm. Slice and bake. Mrs. Harry Ranum

Oh were they good just out of the oven! Just like I remember them tasting at Lillian's house when she served us cookies when we came in from skating on the horseshoe. (For those of you who lived in TRF, the horseshoe was a lowland area below the rail road tracks west of the 700 block of south Conley and east of the street that went past the two parts of the Greenwood Cemetery). The area collected water and when frozen, one could skate around the grass and puffs of other swamp like vegetarian. The area is now land filled.

Anyone out there need a can of Crisco with one cup missing?

FREE plus S&H and I am not talking trading stamps.

e